


Second Impression

by seedsofhappy



Category: Teen Top (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bromance, Family, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-13
Updated: 2013-10-13
Packaged: 2017-12-29 07:40:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1002755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seedsofhappy/pseuds/seedsofhappy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>College AU. Choi Jonghyun tries speed dating to meet some interesting people. He meets a man that is way too interesting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Second Impression

Choi Jonghyun is not lonely. He has 200 followers on tumblr, which he gets after following around 800; his self-portrait photos have around 5 likes each on facebook (the key is to post at around 9 pm on a weekday, when everybody is just done eating dinner and is browsing facebook aimlessly and will like anything that pops up on their newsfeed) and yesterday someone on twitter whose tweets he has been retweeting for a month retweeted something he tweeted, so things are getting tweetty serious.

So when Yoo Changhyun, his lifelong friend and current roommate, suggests he go to speed dating, the first thing he says is “Why?”

“Because you’re a lonely man,” Changhyun answers, sitting down next to Jonghyun on the couch in their suite.

“And you’re not?” Jonghyun asks as he continues to scroll down his tumblr dash. 

“No, I’m dating someone.”

“Who?”

“You.”

That succeeds in tearing Jonghyun's gaze away from his laptop screen.

“We went to the same primary, middle, high school and now college, and we’re roommates, and you’re at my house most of the time during breaks. My mom is getting suspicious.” Changhyun says matter-of-factly.

Jonghyun shudders. 

“As if,” Changhyun side eyes him then presses into his hand a glossy pamphlet for the student council’s annual “speed friend-making” event “in preparation for Valentine’s day.”

***

This school tradition, Jonghyun is told, has succeeded in matchmaking many couples, starting a lot of valuable friendships and creating a slew of hilarious/embarrassing memories.

Here is how it works: Four people start out sitting at the four ends of an imaginary plus sign. Several of these imaginary plus signs are placed one next to another in a row with their horizontal strokes aligned in a line. After 15 minutes of chatting (hence the word “speed”), the two people sitting at the two ends of the vertical stroke of each plus sign stand up and move to the next plus sign in the direction earlier designated by the organizer, while the two people at the end of the row move to the front of it. So for the whole 2 hours of the event, you will meet a total of 16 new people plus that one person who sits opposite of you from the beginning till the end of the evening.

Jonghyun concludes that this model, which is a slight variation of the traditional speed dating model, is flawed; because it’s based on the assumption that you like the person sitting opposite of you enough to enjoy his/her company for the whole 2 hours, and Lee Chanhee is as giddy as a chipmunk and looks just like one with his small face and big teeth and Jonghyun does not like him.

By the end of the first 30 minutes of favorite colors, favorite numbers, favorite movies, favorite celebrities, favorite desserts, chunky or smooth peanut butter, if you were a stripper, what would your stripper name be (Yes, that is actually a question in the list of conversation starters issued to them together with their name tag at the start of the event, conversation starter number 7 to be exact, as Chanhee helpfully pointed out to Jonghyun when Jonghyun shot him an incredulous frown.), Chanhee has yet to show any sign of being done getting to know Jonghyun.

And when the 5th pair of participants stand up and leave them, shaking their heads and smiling resignedly after being unable to join the (mostly one-sided) conversation between Chanhee and Jonghyun, Jonghyun decides that it’s time to take out his phone and text Changhyun three words, “I hate you.” He did not just spend 15 minutes crossing the quad (it’s a shortcut Changhyun had shown him earlier), ankle-deep in snow, from his dorm to the meeting place of the friend-making event on a Saturday night for this.

He nearly drops his phone the moment he surreptitiously takes it out of his pocket because his ears are suddenly assaulted by a high-pitched cry.

“We have the same phone too! We must be soulmates!” Chanhee squeals excitedly while Jonghyun clutches at his heart and tries his best not to fall off his chair.

Chanhee then proceeds to talk about how surprised he is because Jonghyun and he have so much in common

and so on and so forth

non-stop

till they reach Jonghyun’s dorm fifteen minutes after the event ended.

“We should totally be friends,” Chanhee happily declares before saying goodbye to Jonghyun and skipping on his merry way, half his shin deep in snow, tracing the shortcut through the quad.

“Someone’s going to have a date for Valentine’s day,” Changhyun snickers from the couch as soon as Jonghyun opens the door of their third-floor room.

“You saw him?”

“I heard him, all the way from here,” Changhyun rolls his eyes.

“Whatever. It’s not like we’re going to meet again, am I right?” Jonghyun shrugs.

***

He’s dead wrong.

It’s a lazy afternoon at the downtown bakery where Jonghyun works. There have not been many customers today, maybe because there’s a snowstorm outside, and the warmth of the bakery and the faint comforting buttery smell make Jonghyun sleepy.

Jonghyun stands up from his chair behind the counter to yawn and stretch while his eyes lazily drift from the door to the textbook he just removed from his lap to place on the countertop. Wait. Jonghyun glances at the door again. Someone is standing outside right next to the traffic light with his back towards Jonghyun, one gloved hand hooked to a reusable grocery bag swung over his shoulder, the other holding a phone to his ear. When he turns his head around, Jonghyun can see that he’s frowning and does not seem too happy with the conversation he’s having. Jonghyun can also see that he looks kind of familiar.

Oh no no no.

Before Jonghyun can duck, the guy waves to him and pushes open the glass door of the bakery. “This is not happening,” Jonghyun tells himself and squeezes his eyes shut. He hears Chanhee say, “Dad, I have to go now. Goodbye,” then he hears the ceramic floor of the bakery squeak under Chanhee’s wet snow boots as the latter walks towards him. Chanhee stops at the glass counter and taps his fingers on its top and Jonghyun has to open his eyes and greet the customer in front of him with a professional smile.

“I did not know you work here!” Chanhee grins.

“Well you do now,” Jonghyun answers, trying not to be downright obnoxious but obnoxious just enough for Chanhee to know he’s not welcome.

Chanhee does not seem to catch the drift. He puts his phone on the countertop then crouches down to look at the glass display containing a variety of pastries beneath. “I thought your classes are mostly in the afternoon?” he asks from the floor.

“No, I’m often done by lunch. The latest is the computer lab that ends at 4 pm on Friday,” Jonghyun taps his feet impatiently. “Pick whatever you want,” he says, “and get out of here,” he implies.

The phone buzzes so Jonghyun picks it up. It’s a text message from dad.

“I repeat, if you don’t go to med school, don’t go home anymore,” it reads.

Why is his dad talking about med school? Jonghyun checks the phone number. Weird. It’s a very easy to memorize number and it’s not his dad’s number.

It isn’t until Chanhee interrupts Jonghyun’s train of thoughts with his order and politely asks for his phone back does Jonghyun realize that it’s Chanhee’s phone he’s holding.

***

Valentine’s day falls on Friday this year, which is such a treat for anyone with a date. And if the sight of girls holding red roses all over campus does not remind Jonghyun of this fact, then something else definitely does.

Chanhee is standing in front of the computer lab with a box of chocolate, grinning like an idiot and waving frantically at a mortified Jonghyun through the clear plastic door. Jonghyun facepalms as Changhyun at the desk next to him shakes and coughs violently like this is the funniest thing in the world.

“It’s a day for friends too!” Chanhee squeals as soon as he sees Jonghyun exit the room. Changhyun aggressively undoes the brown silk ribbon of the box of chocolate and starts stuffing his face with “truffles! Holy Jonghyun these are good truffles!” while Jonghyun throws his arms in the air in frustration.

When he calms down enough to notice, Changhyun has already disappeared with the box of chocolate, leaving Jonghyun awkward and Chanhee anything but.

“So do you have any plans for tonight?” Chanhee asks.

Never has Jonghuyn understood what it means to be “a lonely man,” in Changhyun’s words, as thoroughly as he does now. Not only does he have no plans, he can’t even make one up quick enough for Chanhee not to hook a hand around the joint between his arm and forearm and push him forward while babbling about a really cool jazz performance downtown with this awesome singer he has never heard of.

“You may not be able to appreciate it at first because like many people our age you are used to mindless pop; but give yourself some time,” Chanhee smiles and pats his back reassuringly.

“Great,” Jonghyun winces.

***

“This weather sucks,” Jonghyun grumbles in between the clattering of his teeth and the howling of the wind. It’s 11 pm on a Friday night somewhere between downtown and campus and Chanhee is using his hands to dig Jonghyun out of a mound of snow the latter made the mistake of trying to cross by stepping right on top of. Screw Changhyun and his shortcuts.

“It kind of does,” Chanhee laughs as he grabs both of Jonghyun’s elbows and pulls with all his might, this time finally succeeding. Jonghyun tumbles out, temporarily paralyzed from the stomach down from standing 10 minutes with three quarters of his body immersed in snow.

“but I’m so going to miss it when I graduate,” Chanhee says, voice suddenly softening, causing Jonghyun to look up. He realizes that he has forgotten a lot about Chanhee after the speed dating event (scratch that, he did not even pay attention to what the man was saying), including the fact that Chanhee is already a senior and will be done with school in a few months.

“What’s your plan?” he asks as he hits his legs with his gloved hands to warm them while Chanhee kneels next to him.

“A year ago it would be to go to med school, but now I would like to get a job, something related to music,” Chanhee answers, nodding as if to affirm something to himself.

“It’s like the opposite of comfort,” he continues as he helps Jonghyun stand up. “Both my parents are doctors. They’re ready to pay for my additional 4 years of school,” he says after an almost imperceptible sigh, gaze fixed on the road ahead. Jonghyun decides not to ask any more questions and they walk in silence for the rest of the journey.

After they say goodbye, Jonghyun stands at the door of his dorm building and watches Chanhee’s retreating figure stagger in the heavy wind. Against the black of the night and the white of the erratically flying snowflakes, Chanhee is blurry and small.

“How’s your date?” Changhyun asks from the couch as Jonghyun hooks his coat on the back of their door.

“Good,” Jonghyun shrugs then heads towards their bedroom.

“Dude you’re blushing, tsk tsk,” Changhyun teases.

“Am I? Yeah,” Jonghyun knows he’s not but he does not bother to correct Changhyun now.

He has been thinking about the way Chanhee silently mouthed the words of the songs and gently swung his head left and right to the rhythms, as excited as the audience consisting mostly of old people around him, and how Chanhee gasped, eyes wide, whenever the singer did something that sounded difficult, because he “wants to be able to do that too.”

He retrieves Chanhee’s dad’s number from his memory and saves it in his phone.

***

“Why do professors feel the need to have all the midterms and assignments due at the same time in mid-March?” Jonghyun muses as he walks past rows and rows of occupied desks in the library, phone in his hand. He’s calling Chanhee to meet for dinner (it’s their ritual now) when he suddenly recognizes a figure hunching in front of a computer, head glued to the desk.

“Excuse me, if you don’t use this computer anymore can you please leave it for other people?” Jonghyun says to Chanhee’s right ear. It’s almost 7 pm on a Sunday and Chanhee looks like he has remained in that spot since 9 am this morning when Jonghyun last saw him.

Chanhee bolts upright and starts apologizing profusely. Jonghyun could have been wrong. Judging by the dark circles around Chanhee’s eyes, Chanhee may have stayed in the same spot since last night. “It’s me,” he puts a hand on Chanhee’s shoulder to calm him down, earning himself a tired nod.

“Have you had breakfast and lunch?” Jonghyun asks.

Chanhee does not answer him. Instead he passes Jonghyun his headphones and clicks the play button on the screen. It does not sound like mindless pop and Jonghyun does not understand any bit even though he has given himself time like Chanhee advised him to. “Do you like it?” Chanhee asks. “Yeah! Wow, you wrote this.” Jonghyun feigns excitement.

“That’s good,” Chanhee smiles then closes all the windows on the desktop.

“And this is for Theory?” Jonghyun asks while coiling the headphone wires.

“No this is for Composition.”

“How many classes are you taking?” Jonghyun frowns.

“I just switched my major to music this year so I am taking extra classes in order to graduate,“ Chanhee explains. “I’m ok,” Chanhee is grinning again, his jaw line prominent and the shape of his jugular veins visible under the skin of his neck.

“And voice lessons too,” Jonghyun mutters. He gathers the notes scattered on the desk into a pile, which Chanhee then takes and shoves into his backpack.

“I don’t mind. These are so much better than Bio and Chem. I have better grades,” Chanhee says, taking one look at the screen of his ringing phone then declining the call. Jonghyun raises his eyebrows. “Just my dad,” Chanhee gestures with his hand, annoyance hinted in his voice, “don’t worry about it. Let’s go.”

When they reach the dining hall, as usual, Chanhee runs towards the food as soon as the card swiping lady hands Jonghyun his student ID back. Jonghyun glances at the bill that comes with the card and sighs.

A month ago, when Jonghyun first invited Chanhee to dinner here, Chanhee insisted on paying, and Jonghyun had to remind him that as a sophomore, Jonghyun’s on mandatory meal plan, and thus has unlimited access plus credit. Now that this has become a habit, and Jonghyun figures this is the only way he can make sure Chanhee does not go a day without eating because the latter has "no time to cook and downtown is too far and dining hall is not cheap,” there’s not much credit left.

Jonghyun has an idea.

***

The next day in the dining hall sees Chanhee and Jonghyun huddled together in a corner, head bowed, in front of a fuming lady that lectures them about disciplinary action and bad record and unemployment prospect and general failure in life should they try this shenanigan again.

“I’m sorry,” Chanhee says later when they walk side by side, Chanhee on his way to his voice lesson and Jonghyun on his way back to the class he just missed 30 minutes of.

“You don’t have to. It’s my idea after all!” Jonghyun says, wrapping an arm around Chanhee’s shoulder and gives it a little shake to assure him that they’re really cool about it. Chanhee nearly topples and his shoulder is bony and hard against Jonghyun’s hand.

“No, I mean if I were not this exceptionally handsome, it would be easier for the card swiping lady to mistake me for you,” Chanhee says, looking at Jonghyun’s face still with that miserable slight frown he has been wearing since Jonghyun arrived in the dining hall fifteen minutes ago to bear the punishment together with him.

Jonghyun surprises himself by laughing out loud at that.

In the afternoon he dials the number that he saved a month ago. 

“Hello, is this Mr. Lee?” Jonghyun asks. His heart thumps in his ears as he hears the affirmative answer from the man at the other end of the line.

“I am Choi Jonghyun, a friend of your son Lee Chanhee,” he takes a deep breath and continues.

***

Mr. Lee said he would think about it.

And judging by the fact that it has been almost a month since Jonghyun called and Chanhee has not mentioned his dad even once, either Mr. Lee is not done thinking or has made a decision that Jonghyun would not like.

The good thing is that Chanhee is more responsible now. He’d better be after Jonghyun asked him to “not skip meals or I’ll force feed you with my hands while Changhyun holds your arms and legs down.” He lives on pastries that he buys from the bakery using Jonghyun’s employee discount. Meanwhile, Changhyun now spares some of his precious time to have dinner with Jonghyun and Chanhee in the dining hall, which is great, because he pays for Chanhee with credit on his card, and not great, because – 

“Do you have anything planned tomorrow? It’s Family Weekend,” Changhyun asks, poking Chanhee’s side with his elbow.

“My parents are not coming,” Chanhee answers without looking up from his spaghetti.

“Why?” Changhyun blurts out as a reflex. Jonghyun kicks him under the table. “Ow what the heck man?” he cries out then reaches down to rub his shin.

“They can come if they want to. I mean, the school emails the activity schedule for Family Weekend to all students and parents. But I’m not going to see them,” Chanhee says.

So Jonghyun is right. Luckily, Changhyun stops asking questions.

“Jonghyun’s parents are not coming either because they have to go to a friend’s wedding tomorrow," Changhyun says. "Cool. My parents will treat the three of us to brunch,” he concludes before standing up to put his tray away.

***

Brunch is great, just as expected, with Mr. Yoo’s fly fishing stories. Mr. and Mrs. Yoo are very fond of Chanhee and insist on sitting next to him. Jonghyun has briefed them earlier on Chanhee’s situation and nobody touches on the sensitive subject of why Chanhee’s parents are not present. He thinks Chanhee has a lot of fun too.

But then Chanhee wants to leave early.

“Why?” questions are heard from all directions.

Chanhee looks down timidly before raising his voice. “I have a performance. I have to be there three hours before it starts,” he says.

So this is the performance of all the graduating music majors, Jonghyun suddenly remembers. He mentally kicks himself this time for not paying much attention to it when he read about it in the emailed schedule a week ago.

“Can we go watch your performance?” Mrs. Yoo asks.

Chanhee seems surprised by the request, then he breaks into a smile, “Sure, it will be really great if you do.” 

“Cool!” Mr. Yoo exclaims. “Chanhee, we want to sit near all your supporters so we can cheer you on,” he says and pats Chanhee’s shoulder.

“It’s not a soccer match,” Mrs. Yoo shushes at him then turns to Chanhee, “Honey, did you and your other friends agree on a place to sit?”

“I don’t have any other friends.”

When they leave for the car a minute later, Jonghyun walks a few steps behind and watches as everyone flocks around a smiling Chanhee to tell him not to be nervous. Chanhee’s hair blows in the gentle spring breeze. Against the green of new leaves and the blue of the clear sky above, he looks vivid and strong.

***

Three hours after dropping Chanhee off at the auditorium, the crew had gone to the supermarket to pick up ingredients so Mrs. Yoo can make her famous chocolate cake to celebrate Chanhee’s “first solo performance ever” in a tiny kitchen they borrowed from a school club. The cake’s ready in the mini fridge in Jonghyun and Changhyun’s shared room and now they are settling among the five hundred plus students and parents waiting for the show to begin. 

“Excuse me, is this seat taken?” someone asks. Jonghyun looks up from the program note to see a weary-looking middle-aged man. The man is slightly out of breath, must have been running; and the faint smell of disinfectant emanating from him makes Jonghyun dizzy. Jonghyun is looking around to find another seat to point the man to when the MC comes up the stage to announce the start of the show so he reluctantly tells the man the seat is free.

“Thank you so much,” the man says and sits down next to him. “My son is performing. My wife can’t be here because she’s at a conference in Europe right now. I just got off my shift 3 hours ago and have been driving ever since. Got a 5-hour emergency surgery this morning,” he says in one breath.

“Who needs to know that?” Jonghyun thinks. But instead of being annoyed, he is amused by the detailed small talk because it reminds him of someone. Unfortunately they don’t have time to chat as the first performer has already appeared.

The people in charge have really saved the best for last. Chanhee’s voice is like honey. It’s smooth and sweet and glows like the sunshine that fills the auditorium with its golden goodness and illuminates the face of each person in the audience. When the music stops, Jonghyun springs from his seat and claps. He does not care if he is going to be the first one to do so and Changhyun will tease him for it later.

He’s not the first one to stand up however, as the man next to him beats him to it.

On stage, Chanhee’s eyes widen and his jaw drops in disbelief then he blinks and his eyes glisten.

***

Choi Jonghyun no longer uploads his photos at 9 pm on weekdays because 9 pm every day is when he’s busy having text message conversations with this person who lives almost 3 time zones away (but on the same latitude and thus should have had no reason to miss the snowstorms that he apparently loves so much) who is currently a music teacher at a primary school and part time singer at bars who is about to go to sleep and has “oh my goodness so much stuff to talk about.”

Changhyun is cramming for his poli sci class on the nearby bed. He frequently darts judging glances at the giggling mess that is Jonghyun which, even months after its first appearance, is still a sight of wonderment to him, and Jonghyun continues to ignore him.

“At least my mom no longer thinks we’re dating,” Changhyun buries his face in his notebook and sighs.

**Author's Note:**

> Russian translation by Victoria (Vellary) posted on Oct 20: http://ficbook.net/readfic/1300193  
> Small edits made to the beginning on Oct 24.


End file.
